Residents held a town hall meeting Feb. 3 at Cleversburg Community Center to discuss Southampton Township’s data center zoning and a proposed amendment tied to 54 Airport Road after supervisors postponed a public hearing that had been scheduled for that night.

Supervisors had granted the landowner a 90-day extension earlier that day and said they wanted time to re-evaluate the township’s data center rules. Organizers told attendees the delay could lead to changes in the township’s existing data center overlay and affect how the Airport Road request is evaluated.

The meeting was hosted by Todd Crawley, Blyden Potts and Dr. Sean Cornell, who told attendees they plan to collect written comments, compile notes and submit a summary to township officials. 

Crawley introduced himself as a regulatory compliance specialist and said he is also the Democratic nominee for the 193rd Legislative District.

Potts, a member of the Middle Spring Watershed Association, said handouts on each table included a timeline of key events and upcoming meeting dates. He said organizers learned at a supervisors’ meeting earlier that morning that township officials are considering changing how planning recommendations are made.

Potts said supervisors have discussed creating a resident planning commission, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, to replace a planning committee made up of the three supervisors.

“Instead of having the same three people who are the board of supervisors on a planning committee, they’d actually have other residents of Southampton Township there — at least three, could be as many as nine,” Potts said.

He encouraged residents with interest and expertise to consider serving and said the proposal was expected to be discussed at the supervisors’ next meeting on Feb. 9.

Much of the town hall focused on the township’s data-center overlay, which limits where data centers may locate and sets project standards. Potts said township officials are considering replacing the overlay with data-center rules written directly into the township’s main zoning ordinance. He said that approach could be acceptable if it still limits where data centers can go and strengthens project requirements.

Potts said his warning about “getting rid of” the overlay was directed at eliminating data center-specific zoning altogether.

“An overlay is a zoning ordinance that says where data centers can go, and where they can’t go,” Potts said. “If we got rid of it, people could put data centers with much wider discretion.”

Potts said township officials appeared to be weighing whether revised rules would limit data centers to manufacturing zones or allow them in both manufacturing and commercial zones, a distinction he said could matter for the Airport Road proposal and other nearby properties.

Crawley said he questioned county planning officials at the county’s Jan. 15 meeting about whether the petition to add the Airport Road parcels to the township’s data center overlay could amount to illegal spot zoning, and said he was told it did not.

“Because if it is, then we’re done here,” Crawley said. “If this is illegal, then it just goes away.”

Crawley said he still sees potential red flags in the filing, pointing to what he described as parcels that do not adjoin each other and zoning classifications he called inconsistent. He also questioned who would benefit from the change and what public purpose it would serve.

Potts said the owner of 54 Airport Road petitioned to amend the overlay to include two parcels on Airport Road and additional parcels in the surrounding area. He said an earlier version involved 11 parcels and about 127 acres before it was withdrawn after public pushback, and that a revised version later returned with fewer parcels and about 111 acres.

“There’s a specific property, 54 Airport Road, where the landowner has applied to have the overlay amended to include his two parcels and also a block of adjoining properties,” Potts said while describing the filings.

During question-and-answer, organizers described the parcels as forming a triangle bounded by Interstate 81, Walnut Bottom Road and Airport Road. They said some parcels closer to Walnut Bottom Road and I-81 are zoned commercial, while others along Airport Road are in the township’s Village Center zoning district, which Potts described as residential or mixed residential and light commercial.

Residents raised questions about emergency response planning, water supply, karst geology and quality-of-life impacts. Cornell, the watershed association’s president, described groundwater and sinkhole concerns tied to the area’s limestone geology.

“The limestone is very reactive to acidic flows,” Cornell said. As stormwater moves into limestone, “it follows the path of least resistance,” he said, gradually enlarging underground voids that can contribute to sinkholes beneath roads and other infrastructure. 

Cornell also pointed to nearby waterways, saying “Burd Run and its tributaries are disappearing streams,” with surface water entering underground limestone systems and re-emerging farther downstream.

Speakers also referenced potential state-level changes affecting data center regulation. A handout distributed at the meeting referenced Senate Bill 939 and said it could limit municipalities from imposing stricter zoning regulations on data centers than on other comparable industrial or commercial uses. 

Crawley also described broader policy ideas he said residents should watch, including requiring data center operators to cover infrastructure and energy costs they generate and considering a temporary statewide moratorium while lawmakers study impacts.

Another resident said neighbors near the Airport Road area already hear traffic and rail noise and worry a data center would worsen it and affect property values.

Several attendees asked for an easier way to access documents and meeting updates without relying on social media. Organizers said they would work on creating a website with a centralized, shareable way for residents to find materials and track meeting information.

Township Supervisor Scott Mack declined to answer detailed questions about how the board intends to proceed during the extension period, directing the newspaper instead to submit formal Right-to-Know requests for documents related to the proposal.

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